Chapter 393: The Nasty Side of Humanity
The smile on Duke Tal's face faded slightly, his frivolous expression turning serious. His gaze lingered on Lady Butterfly's face for a moment before he said, "Lady Butterfly is quite well-informed."
The beautiful woman closed her small folding fan with a snap, resting its tip against her chin. "The influence of the New Wheel Cult may be greater than you imagine, Duke. Although our people haven't made it to District 011, we can still learn what's happening here from other districts. Rongxin Group is a term that comes up quite frequently."
"I thought it over—rather than communicating through an intermediary, it's better to come in person. Cutting out the middleman makes our exchange more convenient."
Duke Tal pondered for a moment before saying, "Let me ask my people about this first."
Lady Butterfly smiled and nodded, then shifted to another topic.
The two continued chatting in the garden, getting along well, neither in a hurry to push the deal forward.
Soon it was dinner time. The table was set with both meat and vegetable dishes. Although both guests had said they wanted vegetarian food, Xu Huo didn't completely cater to their preferences.
Duke Tal looked slightly displeased, but Lady Butterfly was quite interested in the dishes he had prepared and took the initiative to speak with him twice.
"If you're interested, ma'am, I can write down the recipe for you," Xu Huo said directly.
The rest of dinner passed peacefully.
After the meal, the two were to stay overnight at the castle. With nothing planned before bed, Xu Huo suggested taking them to see the spiders kept in the detached villa out back—he had already obtained Mr. Dong's permission in advance.
Duke Tal wasn't particularly interested, but he went along for the enthusiastic Lady Butterfly.
Lady Butterfly had a wide range of knowledge. She recognized most of the spiders kept in the glass cabinets and knew their habits and whether they were poisonous.
"Butterfly Spider—I didn't expect to find such a rare species here," she said, standing before a lit glass cabinet, gazing at the spider inside that looked like a withered leaf butterfly, clinging to the miniature landscape.
"It looks ordinary. Is it poisonous?" Duke Tal asked.
"Non-venomous," Lady Butterfly said calmly. "Although it can't be used medicinally like other venomous spiders, this species is extremely rare. After evolving, it developed a very peculiar habit."
She leaned closer to the glass cabinet and lightly tapped it with her fingertip. A faint ripple of energy passed through the glass into the cabinet. The spider, which had been curled up with its legs tucked in, extended its limbs. The dense bristles lying flat on its body all stood upright, overlapping front and back, resembling spread wings. It moved lightly and gracefully, looking very much like a butterfly in flight.
"It's quite beautiful. You're very knowledgeable, ma'am," Duke Tal commented, not forgetting to flatter her. "What's this very peculiar habit you mentioned? Does it fly?"
Lady Butterfly chuckled softly. "It hasn't grown real wings—how could it fly?"
Duke Tal was captivated by her eyes. "Then what is it?"
"The young spiders eat the female that gave birth to them," Lady Butterfly said.
"Cannibalism isn't uncommon in nature," Xu Huo, who had been playing a supporting role, chimed in with some interest. "Octopuses even choose to die before their eggs hatch to avoid eating their own offspring."
Lady Butterfly turned her head to look at him. "Animals eat and hunt out of survival instinct. When they're hungry, they eat. When they're half-full or half-hungry, they might still eat. But the Butterfly Spider's feeding isn't driven by hunger."
"Under normal circumstances, the female spider stays with her young from egg-laying to hatching, and until the spiderlings are old enough to feed."
"Scientists conducted an experiment, placing male spiders, female spiders, and spiderlings together. The probability of the spiderlings eating the female was one hundred percent, while the probability of them eating the male was only seventy percent."
"Whether they were hungry or not, even if scientists deliberately fed them, the spiderlings would choose a time before maturity to abandon other food and eat the female."
"Why is that?" Duke Tal couldn't help asking. "Animals may not be intelligent, but surely they don't have to eat their own mother?"
Xu Huo agreed with that sentiment. Intelligent animals like octopuses were rare. Cannibalism among animals was a sign of their lack of intelligence. In that case, how could they choose specific food? Usually, it was driven by feeding instinct—whatever was in front of them, they ate first.
"That's why it's called a very peculiar trait," Lady Butterfly said. "What's even more interesting is that if the spiderling is male, and they are artificially separated, the male will track the scent to eat both the female and the male after it matures—again, one hundred percent and seventy percent respectively."
"But if the spiderling is female, it will definitely eat both its parents, prioritizing the female, then the male."
"Spiders have limited lifespans," Xu Huo remarked.
Lady Butterfly's eyes curved into a smile. "That's where it gets interesting. Among Butterfly Spiders, males can live for decades, while females live multiples of that. Some scientists reportedly raised them from a young age and died themselves while the spiders were still alive and well."
"So if the spiderling fails to eat its mother before maturity, it begins a century-long hunt for its mother, continuing until the female dies or its scent fades."
"How terrifying," the woman said, opening her fan to cover her red lips. "Most un-evolved spiders live less than two years. The Butterfly Spider's extended lifespan after mutation is practically equivalent to human immortality."
"Some scientists have even speculated whether the female Butterfly Spider truly dies. To prevent the species from overpopulating, they developed the habit of tracking and killing their parents from afar."
Xu Huo laughed out loud. "Immortality? Seeking immortality in a spider?"
Lady Butterfly laughed too. "Exactly. That's why most Butterfly Spiders die in laboratories. Whether they truly don't die naturally was never figured out—instead, they turned the species into a rarity."
"Perhaps that's the nasty side of humanity. They want all the good things and will trample everything to get them. But if they actually succeeded, it might benefit humanity. Unfortunately, most are just mediocre people."
She was talking about one kind of spider, but it was easy to imagine that the species used in experiments were far more numerous—even humans themselves were among the test subjects.
"That's why the world needs to change," Lady Butterfly said, turning back to wink at Duke Tal. "Why live so long? Great love knows no bounds. If a person can make an extraordinary contribution beyond individual limits, isn't that a form of immortality?"
"Reasonable, very reasonable," Duke Tal said admiringly. "So this is the philosophy of the New Wheel Cult. Your words, ma'am, can elevate the soul. The life and death of the body are insignificant; only the spirit of dedication can endure."
Lady Butterfly lowered her eyelids, looking somewhat bored as she turned away. Touching her cheek, she said, "I need to get my beauty sleep."